Concordia PhD wins top Quebec thesis prize
Chagnon was awarded the Prix d’excellence on September 26, at an event co-hosted by the Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas). The 82nd annual congress is taking place at Concordia for the first time in May 2014.
A Concordia graduate has earned one of Quebec’s highest thesis-writing honours. On September 26, the Association des doyens des études supérieures au Québec (ADESAQ) awarded its Prix d’excellence to Marie-Eve Chagnon, PhD 12.
Chagnon’s thesis — Nationalisme et internationalisme dans les sciences au XXe siècle : l’exemple des scientifiques et des humanistes français et allemands dans la communauté scientifique internationale (1890-1933) — was based on extensive archival research in Paris, Berlin and London. Professor Norman Ingram, chair of Concordia’s Department of History and Chagnon’s thesis supervisor, called her work groundbreaking and a “genuine contribution to human knowledge.”
We sat down with Chagnon to discuss her research and her Concordia connection.
You completed your MA at UQAM. What made you decide to come to Concordia for your PhD?
Marie-Eve Chagnon: I was in Berlin doing research for my master’s when I met Dr. Ingram. He really encouraged me to further my research.
I thought it would be a good challenge to continue my studies at an English university, and I thought Dr. Ingram was the one person in Montreal who could really help me with my new project.
How did you get interested in your subject?
M.E.C.: During my BA at UQAM, I took a course on the First World War, and I thought it was really interesting.
Before the war people had great hope, and they were really optimistic about the potential of science and the evolution of humankind. But when the war started, people became disillusioned. I was very interested in these two feelings at the beginning of the 20th century.
Marie-Eve Chagnon in Ireland, on a research trip. | Photo courtesy of Marie-Eve Chagnon
I focussed my research on private papers, because I thought it would allow me to find out more about what the scientists thought of their colleagues, and about the war in private. Sometimes what they said in public didn't correlate with their private views.
How do you look back on your experience at Concordia?
M.E.C.: The people in the history department were really respectful of my choices. They supported me, and they guided me, but in the end I was the only one responsible.
I wrote my thesis when my first child was a baby. I think the fact that I got to finish this whole process in five years, with a baby, is because they were always behind me, especially Dr. Ingram. He was really present. In French we say, “Il m’a bien encadré.”
Students and faculty have until November 4 to apply for colloquia and November 25 to apply for general session papers. Please follow the Acfas link below for more information.